It’s back to work today after a long holiday weekend, made longer by the two feet of snow that was dumped on my part of the world Sunday night. Looks like that white Christmas I ordered arrived a day late. No worries, as the kids and Daisy the Wonder Poodle had an awesome time playing in the white stuff as I dug us out.

Daisy adjusted quickly to life on Hoth.

While it was a wonderful weekend, it was missing one crucial thing: taste. I’m not talking about the decorations or the sweaters, I’m talking about my palate. I have a lingering head cold that has all but wiped out my ability to taste anything

Sure I can taste sweet and most of the stuff in the “rich” flavor register, but the brighter tastes, the ones that waft up to the sinuses, are totally blocked by this stupid sickness. That means no hops, no floral notes, no barrel characteristics, no “nose.”

It’s frustrating because I have all sorts of rare and wonderful beers that I’m dying to try. I wanted to review my bottle of Sam Adams Infinium before New Years, crack into the Firestone 14 Anniversary Ale that’s been taunting me, and fully enjoy the handful of Mad Elf’s I have left. And that just the start – I had this holiday lined up to be a cavalcade of great beers.

But instead I’ve been sticking to tried and true brews that are easy to get, so as I don’t waste anything special on my defective sense of taste. And even then I feel like I’m wasting good beer on my bad palate, but it’s Christmastime and I want to enjoy some beers, dammit!

Hopefully I can lick this little-bit-o-plague by the time next weekend rolls around. In the mean time, I think I’ll switch to chicken broth and water. And maybe some Victory Storm King – you can always taste that massive bad boy. 😉

Same thing happened to me last year and it took over a week to fully recover. Hope it doesn’t take that long bro. You might want to get some SN celebration ale, that was my taste barometer last year to tell when my cold was over.

I’d say its tasteless to put the sweater up that I knitted for you as the object of mockery! You specifically asked for Cookie Monster to be included in the motif, and I obliged. I don’t see Don putting up the knitted socks I sent him for people to laugh at, and he didn’t ask for Cookie Monster to be included BTW.

Now that that’s out of the way, I do hope you feel better. I’m still on the fence with the Infinium, so a good review will help.

Well, I said I wanted a blue Cookie Monster / Christmas Tree motif, which you totally failed to deliver. Just imagine how cute he would’ve looked with all sorts of colorful ornaments hanging off of him! Instead he’s relegated to a window like a common Christmas candle. That’s a FAIL Scott. A FAIL!! 😦

Glad I got that out of my system. We’ll see how it goes with Infinium, although I’m not sure you can get it around here at this point, so what I think might not matter (not like it actually ever does anyway).

Ah yes, the flu/cold wipeout. I just go over the same thing and also had a shot palate. I decided I wasn’t going to drink anything so for about 10 days I avoided whiskey and beer. I didn’t like it but with a broken taster I didn’t want to throw good libations over a bad palate. Thankfully I was right as rain by Christmas and enjoyed some mighty fine treats; Noel des Geants, La Chouffe, Ommegang Three Philosophers and Southern Tier Choklat. For whiskey; OWA, Redbreast 15 and Yamazaki 12. Get well soon Jim…..you’re missing out.